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tv   How It Really Happened  CNN  May 27, 2023 9:00pm-10:00pm PDT

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♪ come on let's save me ♪ hello, everyone. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. i'm michaelholes.
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appreciate your company. coming up on "cnn newsroom," an agreement in principle on the debt ceiling. washington has a plan to avoid a catastrophic default, but details still need to be ironned out, then it has to get through congress. also ukraine's top general issues a pointed message for his soldiers, russia, and the world. and we do begin in washington a late night agreement to try to prevent a looming debt crisis. the white house and republicans have reached a deal in principle to raise the debt ceiling and cap government spending. it is meant to avert the first u.s. default in history, which could have disastrous consequences worldwide. here's how u.s. house speaker kevin mccarthy characterized the breakthrough. >> after weeks of negotiate az
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we have come to an agreement in principle. we still have a lot of work to do, but i believe this is an agreement in principle. it has historic reductions in spending and lift people out of poverty into the work force, rein in government overreach. there are no new taxes, government programs. we still have more work to do tonight to finish all the writing of it. >> president joe biden praised the deal but acknowledged that it won't please everyone. he said this, quote, the agreement represents a compromise, which means not everyone will get what they want. that is the responsibility of governing. he went on "this agreement is good news for the american people because it prevents what could have been a catastrophic default and would have led to an economic recession, retirement accounts devastated, and millions of jobs lost." there is a long way to go and
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the potential for road bumps and dissent. but mccarthy says the house is expected to vote on it this wednesday. cnn's manu raju has more on what the legislation could include and why there could be opposition on both sides. >> reporter: after furious rounds of negotiations and staring at the first ever debt default in american history speaker mccarthy reached a deal late saturday to raise the national debt limit and do that in two years time and also include a range of spending cuts and other policy concession republicans had demanded including pairing back some social safety programs that had been central to their efforts here. but the white house conceded on those accounts. they ultimately shook hands and reached an agreement in principle, and now the real challenge begins because there is push back. some conservatives do not believe this bill went far enough. they believe that it is a retreat of sorts from the
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republican position demanding even deeper spending cuts. this proposal would cut spending going back to 2023 levels of federal spending. republicans wanted to go back, some of the conservatives wanted to go back to 2022 levels. but the white house had conceded substantially on that approach. they did not want any cuts whatsoever as part of this agreement. on the democratic side many did not want any sort of work requirements on social safety net programs like food stamps. also they had furiously opposed any spending cuts. so expect some opposition from democrats. now, kevin mccarthy in speaking to reporters in the immediate aftermath of this deal said that a vote would occur on wednesday and then the bill text would be released on sunday. that gives them some 72 hours essentially to begin to lock down the votes. the question is going to be how many republicans will defect? we do expect several dozen republicans at least 35 at the moment warning they'll vote against it, that the number is
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expected to grow. but how many more will vote against this plan? and can mccarthy keep a majority of his conference behind it? that is the hope and the expectation at the moment from republican leaders, but that does not mean there's enough to pass the house. they will need to get support from democrats. the number of house democrats who are concerned about this bill will have to be convinced to vote for it. we do note the house democrats are going to get briefed by white house officials on sunday. that'll be part of the white house effort to try to get their numbers in line. can they get that coalition together, get it to the house on wednesday, and then they have to worry about the united states senate which can take time to get any legislation through, several days, sometimes up to a week depending how members respond to this bill. so still some major questions. despite the significant agreement that was reached late after these frantic negotiations, still uncertain whether they can get there and avoid the nation's first ever debt default. by june 5th, the deadline for congress to get the bill through both chambers and get it signed
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into law. manu raju, cnn, capitol hill. >> now, even before a deal was reached, lawmakers had expressed concerns about what the agreement would include and how it was negotiated. here's how two members from opposite sides of the aisle responded to the issue. >> i think the debt ceiling is -- it's just a created thing to hold us the responsible into check. but the reality is neither party is responsible. we've got to get back to some fiscal sanity in this country. we cannot keep spending at these levels. both parties need to start holding the line. if we went back to pre-ending we would have a surplus right now if we were at that level of spending. >> these are really difficult times right now especially when people are using a default to push a political agenda forward. and so people at home know the budget process is separate from this. they're combining it because they understand they can't get through these type of cuts
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through the actual normal process that congress usually takes. and so they've combined these two things and saying, hey, it's my way or the highway. and it's not right and that's not the way we're supposed to go. >> all right, let's discuss this now with michael, he's a political analyst and president of the global policy institute at loyola maramount university. both sides are going to spin, but what's your read on what we know so far? >> you hit the nail on the head, what little we know. we don't know the full details and therein lies the rub and that's where we're going to have the problem. because both sides want to make it look like they win. neither side wants to make it look like they caved in, and yet both sides have had to make some concessions. and so the real problem is going to be when the details of the bill get exposed to the left on the democratic party and the right on the republican party,
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and that's where hostility -- we'll find a lot of push back. >> and of course the calender's tight. even if things went smoothly and of course they might not, they've got to have 72 hours to consider it, they've got to drop the legislation, hopefully a house vote i think wednesday, and then what is a tortuous process in the senate, i think it could be a post-june 5 territory by the time it's done. >> that's right. and the early euphoria you probably felt earlier in the evening is a bit premature. there are a lot of hurdles that remain. and i don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but there's a long road ahead of us. not just in the house, which will be difficult because kevin mccarthy has to show that he can -- he can deliver it, he can sell the product. and that's not a forgone conclusion. same is true on the democratic side. and so even when it does pass the house -- i think it will -- the senate's going to also be a
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problem because any one member can hold the entire institution hostage by filibustering. and that could take days longer, and so it could very well be we get past that june 5th deadline. >> yeah, exactly. there are elements, of course, of the gop who are fiercely hard line. you know, want to blow things up. how at risk is mccarthy if they're angry given the deal he cut to get the speakership, changing the rules so it only takes one member to pull to vote for the speakership. how much pressure is he under from his hard-right? >> this is his first big test. can he limit defections from his own party? can he quell the revolt on the right? and can he get the number he needs? and you mentioned it only takes one member of the house to call for a vote to have a new vote for who the new speaker shall be. and so kevin mccarthy is always
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walking on egg shells or one foot on a banana peel, and this is going to be the true test of both kevin mccarthy and the republicans in their ability to govern. >> you know, going forward does a deal with white house concessions in areas they value, does it just sort of encourage this thing going forward even if it's not until 2025, which it looks like it won't be? i mean does this show economic hostage taking works where a party can threaten to send the country off a cliff, affect the global financial system and get what it wants or at least a lot of what it wants? >> this kind of brinksmanship is dangerous. it's dangerous in american politics, but it also sends a terrible message to the globe, to the rest of the world. oats not the way a stable super power should behave. if people start to doubt us, wonder if we're a reliable partner, wonder if we're capable of delivering promises, are we
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steady enough to be global leaders? what this last couple of weeks has shown us is that our democracy does not inspire confidence, and that's a terrible message because if the new normal in american politics is that chaos and confusion are baked into the process, then china is going to be very happy, and american leadership is going to be in jeopardy. >> yep, there are already countries out there that would like the chinese yuan to replace the dollar, and this gives some ammunition to those. thank you. >> thank you, michael. a tentative deal was reached over the u.s. memorial holiday day weekend just days before the treasury department said the u.s. risked defaulting on what it owes. now, a default, which has never happened, by the way, in u.s. history, would have a global economic impact. earlier in the week fitch ratings placed u.s. sovereign credit on, quote, ratings watch negative ahead of a potential downgrade in the event of a
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default. catherine rampell a cnn economics and political commentator and also a "the washington post" opinion columnist. what a long day. there's still not much detail even though the steam has already begun, but how much relief will there be in the markets? not just the u.s. but the global economy as well? >> i think there will be quite a bit of relief in the markets that at least the outlines of a deal seem to be in place. now, we're not out of the woods yet. whatever this deal is, and we don't know the details of course, it has to be turned into legislation. and then it has it make it through both houses of congress, and that may indeed be a hurdle going forward because a number of republican lawmakers have indicated they might try to obstruct it. and democrats as well might be unhappy with the final bill. but if, in fact, progress has been made, yes, this should be a huge relief to anyone who was concerned that the united states
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might soon be unable to pay its bills. >> yeah, and almost certainly it wasn't planned, but it's probably a good thing it's on a long holiday weekend. the markets aren't open until tuesday. do you think though even with a deal -- and as you say we don't know exactly what it is -- but regardless that all of this would have caused more erosion of international trust in the u.s. with, you know, a debt ceiling system that leads to this sort of uncertainty, going close to the edge again. does it just make the u.s. look less of a safe bet? what's the damage? >> i think nothing good came of this, frankly. nothing good for a long-term fiscal picture despite what republican lawmakers who have been holding the debt limit hostage argue and nothing good for our international relationships. look, if we avoid default that will unequivocally be a good thing, but in meantime there's been a lot of dysfunction that has been clear for the global
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economy, our friends and foes to witness that, in fact, other countries, some of our adv adversaries have already taken advantage of. that say they can't even get their act together to pay their bills. so, yes, it would be a good thing if we in fact don't cause a global financial crisis, but we did not exactly cover ourselves in glory here in the united states by coming as close as we have. and, again, it's still not totally resolved. >> yeah. for those who might want to turn away from the u.s. dollar it's just ammunition. i guess when it comes to what we do know that standing it appears will be kept at 2023 levels through 2024, holding spending flat isn't a cut really. is that a win for the president and also the fact the debt ceiling won't come up again it appears until after the 2024 election. i'm trying to imagine the ransom
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demands in an election year. are both of these things wins for the president? >> i think the devil is in the details on the actual spending levels. so if, in fact, spending levels are kept flat not adjusting for inflation and republicans are fighting to increase defense spending, then that would imply that there have to be cuts somewhere else to offset the increase in defense spending. i don't know exactly what the accounting is yet. we have very few details. maybe they mean spending is flat for all the nondefense stuff. in any event, yes, there could very well be cuts to some programs that come out of this depending on the actual details of the agreement. i think it is definitely a good thing that we are extending the -- or suspending sounds like the debt limit for the next couple of years. my view is we should get rid of it altogether since it causes nothing but headaches and heartburn. but at the very least it's a
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good thing that this is not coming up again next year because next year obviously is an election year in the united states. and as irrational as everyone has behaved in negotiations this year, you can just imagine how many more theatrics you would get if everybody's watching the poll numbers, if politicians are paying more attention to how they're posturing around the debt limit plays for the election as opposed to it global economy and whatever other policy goals they are trying to aim for. so a very good thing that this is not going to be a political football next year. >> yeah. you can just imagine. does a deal with white house concessions in areas they value just encourage this sort of thing going forward even if it's not until 2025? i mean does this show, you know, the economic hostage taking works for one party can threaten to send the country off an economic cliff and rock the global financial system and get
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what it wants or at least a lot of what it wants? i mean what does that show? >> that was certainly the lesson from 2011. so viewers may recall there was another debt limit showdown in 2011 where the united states came very close to default, ultimately at the last minute came to a deal. biden, then vice president now president, was in charge of some of the negotiations at that time. and one of of the lessons that they learned from that episode was that if you pay a ransom, you encourage more hostage taking. and in fact, a couple of years later in 2013 there was another attempt to hold the debt limit hostage. it didn't get quite as bad that year as it did a couple of years, but i think that whole experience is part of the reason now why president biden had been adamant we're not going to negotiate over this, there should be no question about whether the united states will pay its bills, that's just in the constitution. the validity of public debt
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should not be questioned, we're not going to negotiate over that. obviously ultimately he did, and i do wonder to what extent this is going to encourage more brinksmanship if not next year in 2025 or thereafter. >> catherine, so good to have you on this and thanks for staying up. appreciate it. catherine rampell. >> thank you. speculation grows in ukraine about its expected counter offensive, but as when and where remain up in the air, guns are doing the talking on the ground. we'll have that when we come back.
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miracle-gro. all you need to know to grow. explosions are rattling areas on both sides of the front line in ukraine as speculation grows about its suspected counter offensive. officials say kyiv came under attack sunday morningch they say more than 40 drones got shot down, but falling debris damaged this building and caused a fire, at least one person died, another one wound. ukraine also reported multiple blasts in the occupied cities of mariupol and -- on saturday while russian missiles and artillery hit the kharkiv and zaporizhzhia regions. it all happened just hours after ukraine it was top official
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posted a video which appears to drop a hint about the offensive. fred pleitgen reports. >> reporter: it seems to show ukrainian soldiers getting ready for battle and saying it's time to take back what is ours. now, in the video what you also see is them showing a lot of person supplied military equipment. it ranges from u.s. supplied howitzers to himars multiple rocket launch system. now it's unclear whether or not this could be an indication that that counter offensive could be on the horizon, could be inching closer, but one of the things that we are seeing is that there do seem to be an increased number of long distance strikes
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possibly by the ukrainians on the rear etchelons of the russians. one is on the sea. in fact there are reports of three explosions at least in mariupol on saturday. mariupol is one of the main staging grounds for the russian military for their operations in ukraine, so that certainly could be a big blow to the russians if the ukrainians are indeed hitting that area. the russians for their part are saying they have intercepted some ukrainian drones and missiles as well. they also talk about intercepting two storm shadow missiles which of course were supplied by the united kingdom. it's unclear whether or not that is true, but it certainly does seem as though right now the russians in that part of ukraine seem to be under a considerable amount of pressure. fred pleitgen, cnn, kyiv. the polls are set to open next hour in turkey's presidential runoff election. the president erdogan facing the challenger after failing to get
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the 50 plus one votes he needed to win outright in the first round two weeks ago. turnout was strong in that vote. nearly 90% of those eligible cast a ballot. here's what some turkish voters to say about the runoff. >> translator: this is definitely a very important election for our country, but if you ask who's going to win nobody can tell. it's a neck to neck election. >> translator: quite frankly the economy is a very important criteria for my vote. i'm a mother of three and i know how hard it is to make ends meet. there are a lot of things lacking, which is why i think it's the most deserving who should win. what's important is the people. >> all right, for our international viewers do be sure to watch cnn's special live coverage of the 2023 turkey elections hosted by becky anderson. that's on sunday at 8:00 in the
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evening in ankara, 9:00 p.m. in abu dhabi. a team from saudi arabia arrived in syria on saturday to setup a reopening of the embassy in damascus. the two countries had agreed earlier to reopen diplomatic missions in both countries. it comes after a decade of ties with the syrian government over its brutal handling of the country's civil war and weeks after syria was readmitted into the arab league. british border officials have fixed the nationwide technical issue that hit electronic passport gates at airports on saturday. the fault caused major delays for passengers arriving into the u.k. who had to have their passports checked manually rather than by machine. some people complained of having to wait in line for several hours. many were traveling ahead of a public holiday monday and school half-term break. i'm michael holmes.
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so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities™. just days before the u.s. government was expected to run out of cash and setoff a global economic calamity, president joe
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biden and republican house leaders say they have a deal in principle. a source telling cnn the president and house speaker mccarthy sealed the agreement during a phone call just a few hours ago. negotiators are said to be working on the final text, which would go to a vote in the house of representatives early next week, perhaps wednesday. it reportedly includes raising the government's borrowing authority for two years but also reportedly freezes increases in most non-defense spending for the same period. mr. biden is calling the agreement a compromise while mccarthy is calling it a, quote, a deal worthy of the american people. the president also stressed that the cause of his compromise, quote, not everyone gets what they want. cnn white house reporter priscilla alvarez has the story. >> reporter: the white house and house republicans have reached an agreement in principle on the debt ceiling, this the outcome of 24 hours of tireless talks
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white house negotiators as they h deadline when the u.s. would run out of funds and in an attempt to avert a debt default. now, over the course of the day white house officials said there was general optimism about the trajectory of these talks, some echoing what president biden had said on friday on his way to camp david that a deal was, quote, very close. but a pivotal moment came early saturday or saturday afternoon when president biden and house speaker kevin mccarthy connected over the phone. and that, we are told, is when they were able to reach an agreement in principle. now, of course, over the next several hours both sides will be working on the text of this agreement. and the devil will be in the details. that is where republicans as well as democrats will learn more about what exactly this agreement looks like. and they're up against a very tight deadline. not only was it important for both sides to reach an agreement but, then, too, it is what this
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legislative text will say, showing that to members of congress, and then later a vote on the house floor, and then it has to go through the senate. so a long road ahead for what amounts to a very short amount of time. but at least on saturday an important development as president biden and the white house reach that agreement with house republicans allowing them to move forward and trying to avert a debt default on june 5th. priscilla alvarez, cnn, the white house. >> and i'm joined now by jessica levinson. she's a professor of law at loyola law school and host of passing judgment podcast. the spin is under way. both sides are going to talk about what they got. >> there's still a long way to go, and it's an understatement to say that we are going to be
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witnessing a very fractured washington, d.c. vote on this. the house i think we're going to need significant support from democrats in order to pass this because basically both sides of the parties, the extremes on both sides are not happy with what they see. and in the senate the same thing. so in this case i think what democrats are going to say is we kept the house in order, there will not be big cuts to major -- excuse me, to major federal programs. and i think republicans will say we ended up implementing a freeze on spending, and that is a big deal. now, again, we have to see what happens before june 5th because it's not a sure thing. >> yeah, i also wanted to ask you we talk about wins and losses, the debt ceiling won't come up again until after the 2024 election. that's got to be a big win for
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the president because we can all imagine the ransom demands in an election year. >> i think that's exactly right. a huge win for the president particularly because he said i will not negotiate, and what's happening and what are we talking about? he's negotiating. he said over and over again send me a clean bill. send me a bill where it's just raising the debt ceiling like you did, republicans, when there was a republican in the white house. this was a moment where they could negotiate for some budget cuts they wanted. they were able to receive some of them. they were modest if this bill passes, but you can imagine if president biden is re-elected and he has to go into this again it's going to be 2.0 when it comes to these particular negotiations, but, again, big win for that not to happen before the next election. >> absolutely. you touched on this. let's revisit. you've got, you know, the chasm
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between the gop and democrats. but both parties as you say they have their own divisions, the democrat progressives. but particularly i think the hard line maga wing if you like of the gop, it just takes, you know, one of them to force a vote for the speakers job. kevin mccarthy knows that, so how do you see his position if there is indeed anger and push back from his caucus and looks like there could be. if there's a group in his party that want to block or damage this deal, where does that leave him? >> weakened even more so than he is after i believe it was 15 votes to get him the job. and part of his ability to get that job was he said basically we're going to stop spending. when the debt limit comes up, we're going to reduce federal spending. and i promise you we're going to cut big programs. none of that happened. the house freedom caucus is really upset tonight. they will be really upset tomorrow, and i don't think that he will have their support. and this was one of the big
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questions when it came to kevin mccarthy as speaker, which is how much power does he really have over his caucus if he barely limps across the finish line when it comes to becoming speaker? now, of course, hakeem jeffries for democrats also has a big lift here because there are progressive democrats saying why did we negotiate, why did we do anything other than accept a clean bill, and we were essentially held ransom. >> particularly with guests on the international front, when it comes to the debt ceiling process itself, there's only two countries in the world that have a debt ceiling. the other is den mark and their debt ceiling will never be hit because it's so high. then when he was challenged on the cnn town hall why republicans are doing it, he said well i'm not the president
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anymore, they should go for broke. what does that say in terms of the political cynicism of this whole process? >> well, i think the question is the answer. it's extremely cynical. and this really isn't about what is best for the country. frankly, this is about political wins at this point. and, yes, each party thinks their particular ideology is the one that will lead us to a better path, but it is so cynical that this really isn't about the debt ceiling, it's about what type of compromises you can extract from the other side because you have the opportunity. i mean, think of how different this conversation would be if about ten votes in the house of representatives have gone the other way. democrats would have controlled the house, the senate, the oval office. you never would have had this conversation, and that's because republicans have really linked, and it was strategically extremely smart that they did, but have really linked the debt ceiling what they want out of
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the next few budget cycles. again, there's a reason why trust in federal government is low because people sense that politicians are out for wins, not necessarily to avoid economic catastrophe. >> democrats are probably ruing they didn't do away with the debt ceiling before the mid-terms when they actually controlled both houses, but they did not and here we are. jessica levinson in los angeles, always good to see you. thank you, professor. >> thank you. well, texas republican attorney general is now suspended from office after republican lawmakers in the house voted overwhelmingly to impeach him. coming up we'll explain what ken paxton is accused of doing that prompted members of his own party to roundly condemn him. we'll be right back. f you. it's why we carry samsung's bespoke refrigerator because every appliance should have a personal touch. and now, buy more saveve more up to an additional $1,000.
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that was awesome. super-fast internet today. with even faster speeds tomorrow. you might wanna buckle up. only from xfinity. the future starts now. welcome back. in a stunning development republican lawmakers in the texas house have voted overwhelmingly to impeach one of their own, the state's republican attorney general. the vote against ken paxton was 121-23. as rosa flores reports it comes after a legislative investigation accused him of years of corruption. >> reporter: ken paxton has been
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impeached by the texas house of representatives, and under the texas constitution that means that he's immediately suspended and that the governor of texas has the power to appoint a replacement. but let me start by taking you inside the texas house for this historic vote. >> 121 ayes, the resolution is adopted. >> reporter: this is a case of republicans policing republicans in the state of tex. in the state of texas republicans lead the house, and the chairman of the committee that investigated ken paxton is also a republican, and he issued this statement after the vote saying in part, quote, throughout the course of the investigation we discovered numerous activities that constitute unethical and potentially criminal conduct. these violations of the public trust are alarming and show a systemic pattern of behavior that every member of our committee felt needed to be addressed in a public forum. now, this vote is already
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historic because ken paxton is the first attorney general in the state of texas to ever be impeached. now, there was another bombshell. during the hours long debate leading up to his historic vote, and that was when several members said in open forum that members of the house have received calls from ken paxton threatening them that if they voted yes there would be political consequences. there was concern about this so much so that one of the house members took to twitter saying in part, quote, i will be submitting a journal statement to amend charge of documents to include abuse of power, intimidation of house members, and senate jury tampering in light of sharli garon's statements that a.g. paxton called and threaten house and senate members. i called the a.g.'s office about this and did not hear back. saying in part, quote, i'm
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beyond grateful to have the support of millions of texans who witnessed what we witnessed is illegal, unethical and profoundly unjust. i look forward to a resolution in the texas senate where i have full confidence the process will be fair and just. what happened in the texas house? we know the lieutenant governor serves as judge, the 31 senators serve as jurors, and that a two-thirds vote of those senators who are present is required to convict. rosa flores, cnn, houston. still to come on the program, air travel in the u.s. sees a significant surge going into the holiday weekend. we'll have the details after the break.
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how to grow more vibrant flowers: step one: feed them with miracle-gro shake 'n feed. that's it. miracle-gro. all you need to know to grow. (vo) this is sadie. she's on verizon. the network she can count on. and now she's got myplan. the game changing new plan that lets her pick exactly what she wants, and save on every perk. sadie's getting her plan ready for a big trip. travel pass, on. nice iphone 14 pro! cute couple. trips don't last forever. neither does summer love. so, sadie's moving on. apple music? check. introducing myplan. the first and only unlimited plan to give you exactly what you want, so you only pay for what you need. and get iphone 14 pro on us when you switch. it's your verizon.
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gets three jobs done at once - kills weeds. prevents crabgrass. and keeps it growing strong. get a bag of scotts triple action today, it's guaranteed. feed your lawn. feed it. - [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. air travel in the u.s. at its highest level since the pandemic this week as millions of americans took to the skies for the memorial day holiday weekend. the transportation security administration says it screened more than 2.7 million travelers at airports across the country on friday. that's the highest checkpoint volume since november 2019.
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the agency says it expects to screen more than 10 million people during this holiday weekend. cnn's isabel rosales has beenge the world's busiest travel huck, hartsfield-jackson international airport here in atlanta. >> repor close eye on the crowd size here at this main security checkpoint all day long, and it's ebbing and flowing. moments where the size is pretty compact like this, other times where it's empty, you can get in and out within ten minutes or less. friday tsa reported it had screened an estimated 2.7 million people nationwide here in the u.s., marking the busiest day, the highest day of volume so far this year. and then here at hartsfield-jackson airport, the world's busiest airport, on friday tsa here screening 98,000 passengers, marking the third-busiest day ever for the
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airport. i spoke with some travelers who had all sorts of struggles and frustrations even before getting inside of the airport, listen. >> just super hectic. the traffic. even on the shuttle, to come here, it was even super, super hectic. i mean, we waited probably a good 20 minutes just to go, i don't know, not even a mile. so my advice would be to plan. plan, plan. leave early. >> reporter: last summer was a travel fiasco with thousands of flights disrupted. so experts and passengers alike are keeping a close eye to this summer, and specifically this memorial day weekend, as a sort of a test for the airlines, the airports, and the faa which one of the biggest hurdles right now is that it has a major shortage of air traffic controllers. an estimated 3,000 controllers down from their ideal staffing numbers. isabel rosales, cnn, atlanta. the u.s. embassy in uruguay
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is warning americans of a drinking water shortage in the area caused by a long drought. among the precautions it recommends, conserving water and using bottled water for infant formula. another person, the national water company is mixing saltwater into the freshwater to stretch supplies. rafael romo with more. >> reporter: it's supposed to provide water for more than 1 million people. but these days, the canalon grande reservoir in uruguay looks like a muddy field where residents can walk. a multi-year drought and lack of rain have combined to create a severe water crisis. the government is urging people to stop wasting water by avoiding washing their vehicles and watering gardens, as well as repairing leaks and reporting water main breaks. the drought is so severe that public works officials have resorted to a drastic alternative.
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>> translator: we're having to mix water from the river with water from oceansides coming from the south which is salty." >> reporter: on the streets people are protesting almost daily. heated debates have exploded in the uruguayan parliament with the opposition accusing the government of sitting on their hands. the president acknowledges his country is living what he described a complex moment, adding he takes responsibility and stressing his government is already taking measures to solve the crisis. those measures include acquiring a desalination plant and activating two facilities that can purify water by osmosis and produce bottled water. it's not just uruguay. according to a report by carbon brief, south america has been suffering a prolonged dry spell the past three years. water levels in the second-longest river in south america have plummeted to their lowest level in theory 80 years. argentina is facing its worst
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drought in 60 years. uruguayans are desperately seeking alternatives, but things are not looking good. companies that sell bottled water say they're already at a point where demand has vastly surpassed supply. "demand has shot up, and we've been unable to keep up for the last week," this distribution director says. for now, drinking salty water and conserving as much as possible seem to be the only options for many in uruguay. it was a big night in cannes for the french film director justin trouet. >> the palme d'or 2023 goes to -- justin trouet. >> trouet is the third woman to get the palme d'or. she won for "anatomy of a fall."
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an intense courtroom drama about a writer accused of murdering her husband. she used her acceptance speech to slam the macron government over how it raised the retirement age in france. >> translator: this year, the country was gripped by a historic, extremely powerful, and unanimous protest against the pension reform. this protest has been denied and repressed in a shocking way, and this pattern of dominating power of unabashed power is bursting out across several spheres. >> trouet joins new zealand's jane campion as the only woman to pin the palme d'or. this year there was a record seven women competing for the top prize. i'm michael holmes. follow me on twitter and instagram @holmscnn.
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how to grow more vibrant flowers: step one: feed them with miracle-gro shake 'n feed. that's it. miracle-gro. all you need to know to grow. lowe's knows you never come in for just one thing. so we've got to know a lot of things about a lot of things. like which mower makes the cut. the mulch that finishes the look. and picking a color that pops. you got this. we got you. starting a new chapter can be the most thrilling thing in the world. there's an abundance of reasons to get started. how far we take an idea is a question of willpower. because progress... is a matter of character.
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viewers in the united states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. appreciate your company. coming up on "cnn newsroom,"

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